Considering that The Originals is a spin-off of The Vampire Diaries and exists in the same universe, it doesn’t seem all that hard for the shows to cross over every once in a while. But as executive producer Julie Plec mentioned at Comic-Con, it’s harder than fans might think. Not only do the stories have to come together in a natural way, but the logistics of getting an actor (or two) from one show to another isn’t the simplest task.

That being said, the two shows did manage a total of two crossovers last season—one when Tyler came to The Originals and another when Klaus and Rebekah made an appearance in Mystic Falls during TVD’s 100th hour. And the good news is that it looks like the stories are going to converge again this year.

Plec revealed that, as of right now, there is a crossover in the works. “It looks like we are going to be able to do a crossover in the first half of the season, and I can’t tell you what or who or when because it hasn’t been shot yet, but things are looking good,” she said. The one detail she would share? Despite his current status as an Original vampire, Alaric will not be the focus of this crossover—though Plec is not totally against the idea of that happening in the future. “I just love the idea of Matt Davis playing in the pool with Joe [Joseph Morgan] and Daniel [Gillies],” Plec said when pitched the idea.

But a crossover isn’t the only thing fans (and Plec herself) have to look forward to this year. After more than five years as the showrunner of The Vampire Diaries, Plec is going to make her directorial debut in season 6. Why the long wait? Well, probably because she never wanted to do it before. “I was convinced I would be dreadful at it,” Plec said. “I directed a school musical in college and it was being so terrible at directing that made me realize I was such a good producer and that put me on my first career path. [Laughs] Then I had to remind myself that I also thought I would absolutely positively never be a writer because I thought I was a terrible writer for years,” she admitted. “I just was convinced, ‘Oh, I’m good producer; I’m a s—ty writer.’ And then I actually started writing and I thought, ‘Oh, actually—I’m pretty good at this, at least intermittently good at this.’”

And thankfully, Plec’s years of producing have left her feeling prepared and excited for the task. “The beauty of television, much more so than feature films, is when you are the showrunner, you make all those decisions anyway,” she said. “You choose the casting and the hair and the makeup, and you oversee the art direction, and you sit and you edit each episode, and you talk through every single scene with the actual director in terms of what you want for tone and character journeys and emotion and sometimes even lenses and shots and how you want the camera to move. You can be that specific when you’re collaborating with the director. So we all collectively, the producers and some of the actors and I, talked about it a lot and everybody seemed really excited to see what I could do behind the camera. So I’m gonna dive in and see how it goes.”

Although it is subject to change, Plec is currently slotted to direct episode 15 of The Vampire Diaries.

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The Vampire Diaries returns for its sixth season on Thursday, Oct. 2 at 8 p.m., ET with The Originals returning for its second season on Monday, Oct. 6 at 8 p.m. ET, both on The CW.